In which V. is amazed at the stupidity of some people.

I was browsing through the news just now, and found something appalling. See for yourself: Fairy Tales Linked To Violent Relationships (AFP)

The hell? I'm sorry, but I think this is a real stretch. Practically every woman heard or read fairy tales as a child, and we certainly aren't all starring in our own personal Lifetime Original Movies. That's like saying "children who drink milk grow up stupid." It's a completely daft thing to suggest.

Maybe it depends on which fairy tales you grow up with. I mean, admittedly, Disney is screwed up. They present to the world beautiful princesses with flowing hair and impossibly tiny waists. Kinda like Barbie... fun, sure. But not really the best or most realistic role models for a little girl to cling to.

I grew up on fairy tales. And I'm not talkin' Disney. I had a big fat book of original Grimm's. These weren't stories about weak, codependent princesses. These were stories in which naughty children were carried off by trolls. Dwarves did not whistle while they worked, they were fucking sinister. Occasionally a baby would be replaced by a demonic changeling, or made to die because its mother didn't keep her end of a bargain. Cinderella's stepsisters carved off parts of their own feet to make the slipper fit. I found this enthralling.

Did these stories set me up to be a victim? Pffft. More like, they set me up to be an eight year old goth who spent her free time trying to make the boy next to her in homeroom vomit. Me? A victim? I don't take no shit off nobody. And I have logged YEARS of reading fairy tales.

It's really amazing what people will take seriously.